Hi guys,

I have chosen this place cause in the photos it seemed cool and the price attractive.
I have been to Rome before and I know how big is the city ... my intention was to relax and spend some of my time visiting monuments... I said some!! :-) ... so the pleasant surprise was this: Villa Paola was the perfect spot for my intentions: sun bedding half of the day in a fantastic garden far from the traffic and noise of the city, and afterwards visiting the centrum. It took sometime to reach it, but who cares! I was enjoying the northern suburbs of Rome.
Irma was friendly and polite (she is a real natural!) and the hole atmosphere was cool !!
The rooms were ok, quiet, I liked the decor and their smell of "clean".
I must now say that I have been to hotels in Rome where the price was double and the room was a half!!!
So overall a positive experience....that I will repeat especially the next time when I will drive to Rome.

Maxim

This is an OK place to stay if you don't mind a lot of travel by train and subway and through some really raunchy parts of Rome.

The hosts were very accommodating, although we never saw Fabiana the whole time we were there. There were no cooking classes offered and the tours were arranged primarily through a central Rome tour company with sharing of the $$$. That was ok. We had some good tours. Bring wash cloths and hand towels.
The only really bad experiences were when there was a lot of noise in the night the second night we were there, dogs barking and what sounded like gun fire. Also there was one night when we got back to the subway a little before 9:00 and the police wouldn't let us on. We ended up walking a long way, taking a cab to another subway and then getting back to the station. Although we had called the B&B to be picked up there, we were left stranded and had to communicate to a guard to get him to let us call the B&B with his cell phone. It was creepy being at the train station alone after dark.
All in all, they do a lot to make sure you get to the train station every day and pick you up at night so you can get around safely. It is a good budget place to stay.

Villa Paola is a B & B located just north of Rome. The staff is very friendly and will go out of your way to make you feel at home. The rooms are small and darker than pictured on their website. The beds are rather hard and the linens are well worn although clean. The towels are small and thin and you would be well advised to take your own bath towels and face cloths as facecloths are not provided. We were also disappointed by the fact that there was no bath soap provided. Although their website touts "soap provided" when questioned the staff informed us that they were referring to liquid hand soap which is indeed provided. Hot water was in short supply as for two of the three days I stayed I took cold showers as other guests arose before I did and depleted the hot water supply. The location is a northern suburb of Rome that requires a train ride to the city and a transfer to the Metro which takes about 30 minutes. We bought a three day tourist travel card which is a good value at about 13 euros. The living room is rather dimly lit for reading at night and although satellite TV is provided there is only one English language station. The remote location means there is nothing to do at all at night. There are two good nearby restuarants that are frequented by locals with good food at good prices. The breakfast offered is a slice of cake, plenty of toast with butter and jam, one variety of cold cereal and milk and juice, coffee and tea. Very adequate and tasty but hardly an assortment as described on their website. This is a good place to stay if you are on a very tight budget and don't mind commuting to the city via train and don't expect to do anything after dark. It is clean, the staff very friendly and helpful and it is a very quiet location.